Pasmore

by David Storey

A teacher oppressed by the futility of everyday life embarks on a dark affair in this extraordinary novel that won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker PrizeIn his dreams, Colin Pasmore runs an endless race. No matter how hard he pumps his legs, he loses—and not just to other runners, but to every “dullard and idler” in England. Every morning, he wakes up screaming in terror. His life should be joyful; he has a lovely wife, healthy children, and a comfortable job. But as he approaches thirty, Pasmore feels the walls closing in. He must find a way out before ordinary existence suffocates him. In a desperate attempt to escape his routine, Pasmore rents a small room in London, intending to use it for an affair. But adultery does nothing to lessen his burden. As misery threatens to consume his soul, Pasmore will ask himself if any life—even a happy one—is worth living.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

David Storey was an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a former professional rugby league player. Storey was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1933, and studied at the Slade School of Art.

His first two novels were both published in 1960, a few months apart: This Sporting Life, which won the Macmillan Fiction Award and was adapted for an award-winning 1963 film, and Flight Into Camden, which won the Somerset Maugham Award. His next novel, Radcliffe (1963) met with widespread critical acclaim in both England and the United States, and during the 1960s and 70s, Storey became widely known for his plays, several of which achieved great success.

He returned to fiction in 1972 with Pasmore, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award and was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Saville (1976) won the Booker Prize and has been hailed by at least one critic as the best of all the Booker winners. His last novel was Thin-Ice Skater (2004).

David Storey lived in London. He was married and had four children.

Reviews

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A short, sad, serious, concisely written, unsentimental novel about Colin Pasmore, a young married man, 30 years old, a university lecturer, with a wife and three children. He becomes unsatisfied with his married life and seeks to have an affair. It’s a novel with lots of dialogue.

Pasmore is in the throes of having a nervous breakdown, struggling to know what he wants out of life. He leaves his wife and children, staying in a small apartment. He visits his parents and his two sisters, to inform them that he has separated from his wife. They all live in a town some distance from Pasmore’s place of abode and work.

I found the book a satisfying read.

This book was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize.

[Maria (M.J) Hyland · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing book. Strong and clear and consummate prose and a story that takes a hold right from the start. I need to read more like this. Please recommend.

[Colin Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unessential detail is omitted, the language is sparse and the marital and mental breakdown of the hero is told with unemotional restraint.
Yet the build-up to the book's climax brought tears to my eyes. Storey's writing is so controlled, its observation so judicious, that you don't notice how good it is.
We don't learn an awful lot about either Colin Pasmore or his wife Kay, yet the psychological insight is deep, he trapped on a road heading toward self-destruction, she forced to come to terms with abandonment after a married life of undoubting security. The Pasmores, a relation says of his family, are "like horses. Put a pair of blinkers on them, set them in any direction you choose and off they go, as hard as blazes. God help anyone who's standing in their path."
Colin acts like a complete rotter, driven by a demon of despair that maybe he will never be free from. Yet I felt a sympathy for him as well as the greater feeling for those he had betrayed. It was remarkable that the writer could achieve that effect.
I can understand reviewer Thomas Barrett's disappointment with the ending, yet a good case can be made for this being another instance of Storey avoiding what would be more dramatic and literary in favour of the frustratingly everyday.
Bookend: I was lucky to find an original edition, protected by a plastic library jacket, with Storey's own beautiful illustration on the cover.

[Jonathan Budds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in not-yet fashionable boroughs of Camden/Islington in the early 70's, 'Pasmore' is a story of a thirty-something man's descent into a fully-fledged breakdown. Colin Pasmore is a lecturer, settled with a wife, Kay, and three kids. But paradoxically, he begins to sense an increasing unease about his own security, feeling that it excludes him from 'all the relevant and meaningful experiences of his time.' After starting a desultory affair with an older woman, Helen, he slides from one self-destructive, self-pitying incident to another. Pasmore is not an attractive character, so readers looking for a likeable protagonist are advised to go elsewhere, yet his flailing bewilderment is universal. Perhaps these numbed men have become rather stock now, but sparely written, and with penetrating insights into marriage and the often corrosive nature of family and social ties, 'Pasmore' remains a steely, unsentimental examination of a man who has become completely disconnected with his life.

[Thomas Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storey does understated really well - so as bleak as it was - Pasmore's descent into mental illness was softly handled and not overegged for drama purposes, especially as it was written 45 years ago and long before mental health issues became such a big part of the public consciousness. I haven't been as disappointed by an ending in a long time however. Unforgivably trite.

[Rick Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet but unsettling novel about emotional repression and the psychological unravelling of a middle class man of Northern working class background who no longer feels fulfilled by his own life. The spare prose mirrors the striking emotional disconnectedness and numbness of the main character.
As the novel progresses, the protagonist becomes harder to like—selfish, remote, emotionally indifferent. As a reader I didn’t feel sympathy, but empathy and understanding. By the end, there is no resolution, only a kind of acceptance. What’s relevant is not that he is saved, but that his experience is given a voice, and that the feelings of the reader (well in my case anyway) are expressed in a way I couldn’t have done myself. The book held up a mirror to me.

[Rick Seery · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Adi · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Pasmore" is a book about dissatisfaction, unfulfillment, and even despair. The main character, Colin Pasmore, finds himself trapped in the life he lives. After a nervous breakdown, he leaves his wife and kids for another woman. However, the affair does not bring the required relief and happiness, and once he's done with it, he realizes that his way back to his family will be a lot more difficult than what he has expected.
Undoubtedly, these are persistent and very often explored questions, will I live better in the other place, will I be happier with another partner, will I achieve more on the other job... These are the choices which each of us has to make, and sometimes trial and error is the only way to realize what you truly, truly need.
From a contemporary perspective, the ending was a bit disappointing. Kay, Colin's wife, decides to forgive him and allows him to return to her, to their children and to the home he left behind. The forgiveness came far too easy, although for more than half of the book we were let to believe that Kay is living a perfectly decent life without him. Perhaps those were the expectations of the time period, but it would have been nice to keep this independent Kay and not revert her to her earlier self.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read This Sporting Life years ago and always meant to read more David Storey, so finding this vintage Penguin was a good reminder. This was good, a worthy Booker shortlister from the early 70s. The main protagonist, a university lecturer who has a breakdown, an affair leaves his wife and kids, is not a sympathetic character at all, but is realistically drawn. The scenes where he leaves London to visit his parents in an unspecified northern mining town are the most striking - the gulf between working class father who works down the pit and his university educated son seemingly having all the advantages and throwing them away. Mid life crisis? but this being the 1970s this lecturer is married with three kids and getting angsty about his age - at the grand old age of 30….

[Richard Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sad and at times rather disturbing tale of a young man's descent into a nervous breakdown. The modern reader will perhaps be thinking that Pasmore is treated unsympathetically by his family, friends and colleagues, but this book was written in 1972. And very well written it is too - concise, intelligent and unsentimental; the allegory between the black hole of Pasmore's mental illness and his father's working life down the pit is very cleverly drawn. My major criticism (as with other reviewers) is the ending, which seems a little rushed and unimaginative bearing in mind the previous quality throughout the story - but maybe that was how a tale such as this needed to end 50 years ago. A short but excellent read.

[Booker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt a kind of emptiness reading this book. The characters appeared cardboard cut-outs and held practically monosyllabic conversations.
The main protagonist suffers a breakdown which drastically affects his family, friends, work and relationships. However, certain descriptions of family atmospheres by the author struck a chord with events which I have experienced in my own life.
The comparative pictures painted depicting working in the mines in a Northern town during the 60's and teaching in a university in London are striking.

[Chris Mantei · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely hated the main character (protagonist?) and wanted only bad things for him. Not sure if that is the direction the author was going for. I’ve also noticed some of these earlier Booker List books have extremely simple and basic storylines, which makes me wonder how TF they made the short list. Maybe these themes held more weight in the ‘70s, but they definitely don’t challenge the reader like the more recent books do.

[Nathanael Chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

an absolute slog to get through. its easy to write about depressing subterranean urban life, and stories about adultery are a dime a dozen, but the writer didn't seem to engage with these things beyond the conventional, surface way. the protagonist is oblivious, to his own hypocrisy, his own moral failings

also annoyed that the protagonist's occupation (university lecturer) was hardly touched on. hopefully Stoner will be a better take on this 🤞

[Grebbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am rapidly becoming a huge fan of Storey’s work. As I often say, it is the quality of the writing which sets it apart. This is an incredibly sad story, beautifully told. I will read more of his work. Shortlist 1972.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit bleak, not as good as Flight Into Camden.

[Donal O Suilleabhain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mundane read at times, portrays the mental breakdown well but doesn't really deal with the causes nor the recovery (if he really has recovered).

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as 'This Sporting Life'. However the conciseness of it would not happen today. It would be 400 plus pages and the weeks long gaps in the story would be filled to the brim.

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel exhausted after reading this. Being a husband and father this story is terrifying. Incredibly well written and well paced.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A period piece from the Tony Harrison generation of university-educated but consciously working-class authors, and in Storey's case with a style that sat somewhere between 1960-70s Coronation Street and Angry Young Man plays from the same era. I defy any contemporary reader not to mainly sympathise with his poor wife, and I might have enjoyed this more if the focus had been on her. Instead we get to explore the selfishness of a man whose privilege is only circumscribed by the fact his limited means don't allow him to do whatever the hell he wants (instead of most of it), and his mental breakdown that actually seems a fairly reasonable reaction to the mess he single-handedly wreaks on himself and those around him.

There are glimpses of his sisters' ambitions and wife's autonomy in the wake of her desertion, which manage to take us out of this angry young man's head at least some of the time. The endlessly crying children still manage more emotional maturity, but for most of the tale - unsurprisingly given the title - we're stuck with the stalkerish, infantile, occasionally cataleptic Pasmore and his unresolved teenage tantrums. Mind you, pretty much everyone gets weeping at some point in this tale, in best northern soap style. Pasmore just gets the hallway limelight for most of the long camera shots.

I didn't - unlike other reviewers - end up hating Pasmore, but I did find the ending profoundly depressing. Neither the bovine family (openly presented by Storey as animal-like), nor Pasmore's self-destructive behaviour, made me wish especially good things, and I would have dearly wished for an ending that allowed other possibilities. If you do read this, you may want a counteracting burst of satire to prick the pomposity - and for this I recommend 'The Comforters' by Muriel Spark, which I have also just finished, and which deals marvellously with less subtle books from this genre.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A guy has a third-life crisis in the 1970s. Well-written, but not really to my taste. Unsure if it was his intention, but I thought it had a rather feminist tone, and the protagonist came off as quite the idiot.